Fresh Cut
by Mishiko Shinsei
Summary: AU. Multiple pairings. For Dragon’s KnY ‘kittens’ challenge. Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks. Rating for language.


Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.

_For Dragon's KnY 'kittens' challenge. _

**Fresh Cut**

It's an unusual day in the studio. No one is recording or rehearsing. They sit around casually, engaging in their current pastime, picking a new name. They'd been trying to come up with one for the last four weeks, but nothing seemed to fit.

The band currently consists of five musicians. Yami, the 23-year-old back-up guitarist, Ryou, the 17-year-old keyboardist, Bakura, the 21-year-old bassist, Yugi, the 19-year-old lead guitarist and Katsuya, the 21-year-old drummer.

"How about 'The Dark Magicians'?" Yami throws out.

"No!" the band yells unanimously.

"What about 'The Sex Shooters'?" Ryou suggests.

"Ryou, why do you keep suggesting that when you know we hate it?" Bakura snaps.

"Leave him alone, 'Kura," Yugi pipes up.

"Only because you asked, sweet cheeks," he grins at his boyfriend.

"Kura…" Yugi blushes.

"What? I'm only stating the truth. You do have such luscious, sweet cheeks," he leers.

"Okay, TMI, Bakura!" Yami interjects.

"You're just mad 'cause your younger cousin is getting more action than you are," Bakura smirks.

"Whatever!" Yami dismisses.

"Katsuya will be back with our new lead soon. Maybe one of them will have an idea for the bands' name," Ryou inserts.

"That's right! It'll be great to finally get a new lead!" Bakura smiles. "How old is he again?"

"18," Yami affirms.

"Great, another kid," Bakura grumbles. "But that's better than nothing."

"Are you happy for the lead or just that it's not Anzu," Yugi questions sincerely.

"Hey, anything's better than that psycho-bitch Anzu, Yugi. And don't correct me 'cause you know I'm right."

"I know. It's just…we were friends since the 2nd grade. It's weird not to have her always in my life anymore. I mean, I know we'll still talk, but…Maybe we were too hard on her."

Yami puts his hand on Yugi's shoulder.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Bakura on this one, Yugi," he frowns. "Anzu was completely out of control."

Yugi narrows his eyes at his cousin, shrugging Yami's hand off of his shoulder.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you," he sneers.

"Me? Why would you think I know anything about it?"

"You knew she was in love with you, Yami, but you treated her like shit anyway and she snapped!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah, baby," Bakura interjects, "Where are you getting this crap from?"

"Anzu," he glares at Yami. "She called me last week and told me everything."

Yami pales.

"What do you mean, 'everything', Yugi," Bakura frowns.

"Just about Yami taking her out several times and spending the whole time hitting on anything female. Not to mention leading her on with promises of 'staying together forever'. And of course not speaking to her anymore after he finally had sex with her."

"I'm sure that's not right, Yugi," Ryou inserts.

"Yeah, Yami doesn't even like girls," Bakura smirks.

Yugi levels his angry gaze on his boyfriend.

"Oh, really?" he smirks back, "Then why was he sucking face with Mai last night?"

It's at that moment that Mai's husband Katsuya steps through the door.

"Wha…? Sucking face with Mai..? Yugi, what are you jabbering about?" he asks, face wrinkled in confusion.

Yugi looks away, but doesn't respond. His only plan was to show Yami for the liar he really was, not to hurt his best friend.

"N-Nothing, Kats," he stutters, as Yami practically runs from the room. "Just a minor disagreement."

The rest of the room falls silent and Katsuya's face falls.

"What's goin' on?" he frowns.

Yugi doesn't look up. Why he decided to expose Yami just then…He was just mad about what happened with Anzu, which probably should have been a private conversation. Just like seeing Yami with Mai last night.

He doesn't really hate Yami, he just never liked or trusted him. They'd barely had contact as children and teens, but even then, Yugi could always sense something off with Yami. It always seemed like his cousin wasn't quite comfortable in his own skin. Either way, the guitarist has wreaked enough havoc.

Just then, a tall blonde steps into the room.

"Sorry, I'm late. I had to hit the can. I'm Marik. Thanks for giving me a chance to sing with you guys. I've been a fan of 'The Rings' for a while."

"Well, actually, we're changing our name," Ryou explains quietly, "since we lost a band member."

"Two," Yugi announces, deciding now is as good a time as any to drop Yami.

A gasp from Ryou is accompanied by looks of disbelief from Bakura and Katsuya.

"Yugi! You can't mean that!" Ryou frowns.

"Why? Don't you think he's done enough damage already?"

"But, Yugi, he's family," Ryou pleads further.

"Only by marriage. The truth is we didn't really know each other until he joined the band."

"Yugi," Bakura begins sternly, "perhaps this isn't the best time to air our dirty laundry, seeing as we have a new band member."

Yugi turns to Marik and smiles brightly.

"It's alright. We're a band with no secrets. Not anymore. Can you work with that, Marik?"

"Sure," the blonde shrugs. "I guess this would be a good time to mention that I'm gay then."

"I don't think that's a problem," Ryou replies, grinning shyly.

"Is it true," Katsuya questions soberly from the stool behind his drum kit. "What you said about Mai and Yami. Is it true, Yugi?"

"Sorry, Kats," Yugi replies lowering his eyes.

Katsuya clenches his fists in anger.

"How long," he forces.

"A few months," Ryou interposes, surprising Yugi, Bakura and Katsuya.

"You knew!" Yugi yells angrily.

Ryou nods slowly.

"I tried talking to both of them, but they ignored my warnings and concerns. I told them how much it would hurt Katsuya, but they didn't seem to care."

"Fuck!" Katsuya yells, stomping over to the nearest wall and punching it.

"Then why the hell were you defending Yami if you knew all that?" Bakura yells, advancing on Ryou's wide-eyed form.

Ryou backs away reflexively. He hadn't meant to cause such trouble, he just loves being with the band and hanging with the guys in the band. He didn't want them to break up.

"I-I just didn't want to lose any of my friends," he whispers sadly.

"Well, it's too fucking late for that!" Bakura yells.

"Leave him alone, Bakura," Katsuya mumbles from his lean against the wall.

"How can you defend him, Kats? He knew Yami and Mai were stepping out on you and didn't say anything!"

"He's just a kid, Bakura. He thought he could fix things on his own. If I don't fault him for his stupidity, you shouldn't either."

Bakura is struck speechless. These bunch of bleeding hearts never cease to amaze him. Well, except Yugi. He glances to his boyfriend of two years whose face holds the same shock as his. Despite the innocence in those big, violet eyes, his koi is far from the little goody, two-shoes for which he is often mistaken.

"How about we all go out and get plastered," Marik drops into the heavy silence, "My treat."

Bakura smiles at him.

"You're a good man, Marik. Hey Kats, I really like this guy!"

"Sure, why not," Katsuya sighs, heart still very heavy.

"What about Ryou?" Yugi wonders as they head out of the studio.

"I know a place that won't care. They've been serving me for years," Marik pipes up.

Bakura throws an arm around Marik's shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, we're keeping you," he grins evilly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several hours later, the group chats on the street after drinking their fill at 'Marik's' bar. All but Marik are more than a few sheets to the wind, just not willing to go their separate ways just yet.

They run through several subjects, including whether or not Yami really should be dismissed from the band. Even Katsuya is torn about finding a new guitarist who would follow Yugi's guitar leads, Bakura's bass riffs and his drums rhythms as well.

Eventually, the subject of the band's name comes up again.

"I have another idea," Ryou murmurs, still much less than lucid.

"What is it this time?" Bakura glares. They'd been fending off Ryou's bad ideas for the past ten minutes.

"The Bloody Kittens."

"Ewwww," Katsuya grimaces.

"I don't even _want_ to know how you came up with that!" Yugi admonishes.

"I don't know. I kinda like it," Bakura nods thoughtfully.

"Me too," Marik concurs.

"Humph," Yugi scoffs. "We'll see what you think once you're sober."

With that he flags a cab for himself, Katsuya and Bakura. Yugi figures home might be a bit painful right now and offers his best friend their spare room. Marik offers to drive Ryou home since he's fairly sober.

"And if you do more than that while he's drunk off his ass, I'll kill you," Bakura promises.

"You have my word," Marik acquiesces, guiding the tipsy teen to his car.

As the cab pulls away from the curb, Yugi curls into Bakura's arms, wanting to sleep and bring an end to the eventful day.


End file.
